Blog

Light Girls (Doku)

From the creator and director of the critically acclaimed documentary Dark Girls, award-winning filmmaker Bill Duke continues the conversation on colorism with Light Girls. Sharing the untold stories and experiences of lighter-skinned women, Light Girls dives deep into the discussion of skin color, preference, privilege, pain and prejudice.

Duke said that he interviewed both lighter skinned Black girls and women. Many viewers, who will likely be expecting to hear stories of light skinned privilege, will be horrified by stories of abuse and objectification which were also inflicted upon them for the shade of their Blackness. He recounted briefly an interview he did with a lighter skinned Black woman, who had Nair hair removal thrown onto her head and her hair pulled out from the roots by a gang of darker skinned women, who were likely jealous because of the lightness of her skin. He also said that the film will feature Black men, who readily admit to desiring lighter skinned women as status symbols.
“With these films, I’m not trying to judge anybody and just presenting the truth of how people feel,” he said. “My point with this film is that you [dark skinned and light skinned] both should stop.”